Ice Mario is not to be confused with Penguin Mario, an improved version of the former power-up. Ice Mario can only shoot Ice Balls, while Penguin Mario has more abilities. Penguin Mario can slide on his belly, destroying breakable blocks in his way. He also has better swimming abilities and the ability to walk on ice without sliding. The Penguin Suit itself is rarer than the Ice Flower.

The Ice Balls can be used to neutralize the magical projectiles fired by Larry, Iggy, Morton, Roy, Ludwig, and Kamek. They can also be used to douse the fireballs spat by Bowser and Bowser Jr.. However they are unable to inflict damage to, or freeze, any of the bosses. Normal enemies will be trapped in ice cubes when hit by an Ice Ball. They will eventually try to free themselves, but the effect of this varies from enemy to enemy. Some will die after breaking free, releasing coins, but others can free themselves without taking damage. If the player lifts a frozen enemy, they will never break free as long as they're being held.

The frozen enemies can be ground-pounded to defeat them. Many frozen enemies can also be defeated by throwing them, which makes them slide in the direction they were thrown, defeating other enemies in their path until they shatter on a wall or fall of a cliff. Even undefeatable enemies like Dry Bones can be destroyed after being frozen and will not revive. However, some enemies and obstacles like Thwomps are so solid that Ice Balls shatter on them, making them useless. Other large enemies, such as Porcupuffers and Big Piranha Plants, can be frozen, but will break out immediately and ultimately cannot be harmed by ice. Flying enemies can be frozen in mid-air, allowing the player to jump off them, but after a while they will try to get free, and their block will fall and break on the ground, defeating them.

Ice Mario makes a reappearance in New Super Mario Bros. U and New Super Luigi U, functioning identically. Miis can also make use of Ice Flowers to become Ice Miis. This time, most of the bosses can be frozen, but will break out immediately.

As Ice Mario, Mario's overalls turn red, and his hat and shirt turn a light blue, resembling the Mario found on the cover of the first issue of Nintendo Power and his outfit in the threeDICcartoons and in the early Mario games prior to Super Mario Bros. 3 in which his colors were inverted from his current design. It also resembles his blue costume from the first three Super Smash Bros. games.

As Ice Luigi, Luigi's overalls turn green, and his hat and shirt turn a light blue, resembling his appearance from Super Mario Bros. 2 prior to Super Mario Bros. 3 and his outfit in the three DIC cartoons in which his colors were inverted from his current design.